When Meguro was a Green Hill 2 views by Hiroshige

#Hiroshige seems to have been like many #Edo residents fond of visiting #Meguro

#japaneseprints #landscapeprints

When Meguro was a Green Hill 

The building in the lower right corner is a teahouse. Nowadays I've read Meguro is more noted for coffee and laneways with small shops. 

Another view by Hiroshige. The river is still there though partly canalized and smaller. 

How things have changed over the years and centuries! 

There are other prints by Hiroshige and others on this theme. These seem to be 2 of the best?

Ochanomizu Two

#ochanomizu #edo #tokyo #japaneseprints

Once upon a time only a century and a few more decades Ochanomizu had NO tall buildings!

This is Hiroshige's view of it. Mid 19th century

A mid 20th century view.

How things have changed!

Ochanomizu One

#ochanomizu #japaneseprints #edo #tokyo #history #megalopolis #ukiyo-e

Thanks to the Japanese love of landscapes and the residents of Tokugawa Edo loving scenes of their own city we have many surviving images of Tokyo from the 18th century to this one as prints!

One locale loved by printmakers was #Ochanomizu in #Tokyo.

Your first thought may be

"Ochanomizu a railway station and maybe if you've been on a train going through that station you have briefly noticed the narrow stream below curving between high banks and taller buildings above.

This is Ochanomizu in late autumn / early winter as late as the middle 19th century as depicted by Kuniyoshi
.

Cold wet empty and obscured by drizzle

Kuniyoshi has probably removed some of the trees known to have grown along the banks and the footpaths and roads are hidden by the rain. The total absence of any human shows us what a dreary day it was and Kuniyoshi seems to have picked this subject to show off the skills of himself and his colorist in creating an effect very similar to an actual watercolor on paper or silk.

Next post more images of Ochanomizu in the past!

Sute-jo's Higurashi Haiku

#sute-jo #higurashi #haiku

SUTE-JO'S HIGURASHI HAIKU

This poetess become a nun in later life and was part of the Basho lineage of Haiku writers

Higurashi ya!

Sutete oite mo 

Kururu hi wa 

Oh higurashi 

Abandoned Left behind 

By the sun 

I have read but not experienced Higurashi singing mainly in the evening but sometimes in the morning or if the weather suddenly becomes overcast and cloudy. I have taken some liberties with the string of verbs in the middle shifting to the passive in English.

Sutete may be a pun on' Sute-jos name "abandoned wife"  

Oite is a shortened form of okite used when it was combined with other verbs?

Kururu is not kuru - come but an older literary form of kureru ! 

The last line could also be translated as darkens day 

This is the sort of haiku in which the Japanese is so compact and dense you have to make the lines longer or shorter in English. The closest I can get to the assonance of suteTE oiTE is aBandoned left Behind By ...

Higurashi Japanese Sculptures

#Japanese #Sculptures of Higurashi

Here's an actual #higurashi cicada and heres some 3d sculptures

I hope you've enjoyed this medley

Please check the archives for more collections of images based on themes also poetry translations!

What are Higurashi ?

#higurashi #japanesecicada #cicada  #utamaro #print #kachoga

SO WHAT IS A HIGURASHI
and how does it differ from #semi

The usual word for Cicada is Semi but there is another cicada species called #higurashi

This is Tanna Japonensis the cicada that sings at dawn or dusk or when the sky is overcast.
Its numbers and song peak in mid October. As well as featuring in various waka and haiku it is also the subject of one of Utamaro's Insects and Flowers series published to illustrate a book:

Although mentioned in many poems it doesn't seem to have been as popular as a theme for visual arts apart from some netsuke. I was surprised to find so few prints and this is the best of them.

Utamaro is best known for bijin beautiful women prints and he brings the same elegant style  to this depiction of plants and insects. 

Hagi no hana Waka

From the Man'yo shu MYS X:223

*hagi #waka #manyoshu

Hagi no hana            hagi flowers 

sakitaru nobe ni           blooming continously spreading   

Higurashi no                   while higurashi cicadas 

Naku naru naheni                are singing together with 

Aki no kaze fuku          the wind of autumn blowing 

word for word hagi = bush clover of flowers verb saku = taru suffix nobe spreading extending higurahi a kind of cicada that sings early morning or evening or when its overcast and cloudy
naku sing naru being naheni adverb aki autumn kaze wind fuku verb again